Sandakan Airport, Malaysia

Lapangan Terbang Sandakan
Summary
Airport typePublic
OwnerKhazanah Nasional Berhad
OperatorMalaysia Airports Holdings Berhad
ServesSandakan Division, Sabah, East Malaysia
LocationSandakan, Sabah, East Malaysia
Time zoneMST (UTC+08:00)
Elevation AMSL46 ft / 14 m
Coordinates05°54′06″N 118°02′55″E / 5.90167°N 118.04861°E / 5.90167; 118.04861
Map
SDK /WBKS is located in Sabah
SDK /WBKS
SDK /WBKS
Location in Sabah state
SDK /WBKS is located in East Malaysia
SDK /WBKS
SDK /WBKS
Location in East Malaysia
SDK /WBKS is located in Borneo
SDK /WBKS
SDK /WBKS
Location in Borneo
SDK /WBKS is located in Malaysia
SDK /WBKS
SDK /WBKS
Location in Malaysia
SDK /WBKS is located in Southeast Asia
SDK /WBKS
SDK /WBKS
Location in Southeast Asia
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
08/26 2,500 8,202 Asphalt
Statistics (2020)
Passenger362,692 (Decrease 66.5%)
Airfreight (tonnes)1,657 (Decrease 34.9%)
Aircraft movements6,034 (Increase 50.5%)
Sources: Official web site[1]
AIP Malaysia[2]

Sandakan Airport (IATA: SDK, ICAO: WBKS) is a domestic airport which serves Sandakan in Sandakan District, Sabah, Malaysia. It is located 14 km (8.7 mi)[2] west of downtown Sandakan. In 2005, the airport handled 621,513 passengers and registered 10,876 flights.[1]

History

World War II

The site was selected during World War II for a Royal Air Force (RAF) airfield, but by the time of the Japanese invasion of Borneo, work had not progressed beyond clearing the area of vegetation.[3] After the Fall of Singapore, the Japanese military decided that its aircraft needed a refuelling stop between peninsular Malaya and the Philippines and decided to complete the RAF airfield site.[3] The Japanese Army transferred some 1,500 British and Australian prisoners of war from Singapore to work on the airfield.[3] Commencing in August 1942, the prisoners, along with thousands of Javanese- and local labourers, built the airfield by hand, including a 1,400-metre (4,593 ft) runway, on a site composed of tufa.[4][5] The airfield received its first flight in December 1942, when General Yamawaki Masataka landed in a bomber aircraft and declared the airfield open.[6][7] At various times in 1945, all remaining prisoners of war were evacuated from the vicinity of the airfield, with all but six dying during what became known as the Sandakan Death Marches.

Expansion plan

On 7 May 2017, Prime Minister Najib Razak announced an allocation of RM 80 million for the airport runway extension project.[8] The extension project commenced in 2019, but completion is delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[9][10]

During a meeting with Sabah's Chief Minister Hajiji Noor, Wee Ka Siong the Malaysia Minister of Transport in December 2021 told that the runway extension project will be completed really soon.

In June 2022, the extended runway has been completed along with the adjacent Taxiway Bravo. Runway 08 is equipped with ILS while runway 26 has VOR and RNAV approaches are available.[11]

The new runway length of 2500M(8202feet) allows unrestricted payload take off for narrowbody aircraft like the B737-800, A320, A321.[12][13] This also allows operations of widebody aircraft like A330 though subjected to either payload or range restrictions.[14][15]

Present

Sandakan Airport Landside View

Currently the airport terminal can accommodate 1.4mil passengers annually.[16]At peak hours, the terminal can handle up to 1000 passengers.[17]

Sandakan Airport Arrival Area

The terminal landside has few gift shops and f&b outlets.[18]

Sandakan Airport Gate View

The airport is equipped with 5 Code C aircraft parking. Of these 5 bays, 2 of them equipped with Jetway and VDGS services. The airport also has 2 additional turboprop bays. Remote Bay 5A situated further away from the terminal building can be configured for adhoc widebody aircraft operations if required.[19]

Airlines and destinations

AirlinesDestinations
AirAsia Kota Kinabalu, Kuala Lumpur–International
Firefly Kota Kinabalu
Malaysia Airlines Kuala Lumpur–International
Malaysia Airlines operated by MASwings Kudat, Lahad Datu, Tawau

Traffic and statistics

Annual passenger numbers and aircraft statistics
Year
Passengers
handled
Passenger
% Change
Cargo
(tonnes)
Cargo
% Change
Aircraft
Movements
Aircraft
% Change
2003497,999Steady3,713Steady10,588Steady
2004574,213Increase 15.34,053Increase 9.210,823Increase 2.2
2005621,513Increase 8.24,531Increase 11.811,662Increase 7.7
2006633,194Increase 1.95,475Increase 20.810,776Decrease 7.6
2007626,192Decrease 1.16,224Increase 13.78,410Decrease 22.0
2008618,927Decrease 1.23,055Decrease 50.99,622Increase 14.4
2009672,469Increase 8.62,099Decrease 31.312,915Increase 34.2
2010741,674Increase 10.32,806Increase 33.713,517Increase 4.7
2011788,515Increase 6.32,300Decrease 18.011,715Decrease 13.3
2012834,626Increase 5.82,479Increase 7.813,153Increase 12.3
2013911,855Increase 9.32,894Increase 16.712,856Decrease 2.3
2014900,016Decrease 1.32,497Decrease 13.712,696Decrease 1.2
2015853,411Decrease 5.23,147Increase 26.012,705Increase 0.1
2016882,811Increase 3.42,389Decrease 24.112,240Decrease 3.7
2017896,347Increase 1.52,211Decrease 7.410,859Decrease 11.3
2018950,861Increase 6.12,152Decrease 2.711,561Increase 6.5
20191,083,686Increase 14.02,547Increase 18.312,179Increase 5.3
2020362,692Decrease 66.51,657Decrease 34.96,034Decrease 50.5
Source: Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad[20]

Statistics

Busiest Routes Out of Sandakan Airport by Frequency as of October 2019
RankDestinationFrequency
(Weekly)		Airlines
1 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah 53 AirAsia, Malaysia Airlines, Malindo Air
2 Kuala Lumpur 40 AirAsia, Malaysia Airlines, Malindo Air
3 Tawau, Sabah 14 Malaysia Airlines
4 Lahad Datu, Sabah 14 Malaysia Airlines
5 Kudat, Sabah 2 Malaysia Airlines

References

  1. 1 2 Sandakan International Airport, Sabah at Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad
  2. 1 2 WBKS - SANDAKAN at Department of Civil Aviation Malaysia
  3. 1 2 3 Silver 2007, p. 61
  4. ↑ Silver 2007, p. 64
  5. ↑ Silver 2007, p. 67
  6. ↑ Silver 2007, p. 69
  7. ↑ Silver 2007, pp. 79-80
  8. ↑ Govt has allocated RM80m for Sandakan airport runway extension project: Najib
  9. ↑ "Sandakan Airport runway extension project takes off".
  10. ↑ Tan, Tarrence; Rahim, Rahimy; Carvalho, Martin (5 October 2021). "No construction, upgrade of airports until aviation industry recovers, says Transport Minister". The Star. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
  11. ↑ "S'kan airport runway extension ready end of year | Daily Express Online - Sabah's Leading News Portal". 21 October 2021.
  12. ↑ "A321 performance data" (PDF).
  13. ↑ ""With this extension, Sandakan airport will be able to accommodate Code C aircraft without weight limitation, and up to six hours' flight time. This will indirectly encourage more commercial aircraft to fly direct to Sandakan and increase domestic and international tourism as well as boost the economy,"". the star. 13 June 2022.
  14. ↑ "Sandakan Airport AIP documentation".
  15. ↑ "A330 performance data" (PDF).
  16. ↑ ""The Sandakan Airport, designed with a terminal capacity of 1.4 million annually, aligns with MAHB's projections, suggesting that it will suffice until after 2027," Loke stated". the edge malaysia. 11 October 2023.
  17. ↑ "UPGRADING SANDAKAN AIRPORT, SABAH" (PDF). Ministry of Transport Malaysia. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
  18. ↑ "Enjoy a cup of coffee before you fly 🛫 @mystarbucks is officially brewing today at Sandakan Airport". Retrieved 16 April 2022.
  19. ↑ "AIRCRAFT PARKING/DOCKING CHART (WBKS) - ICAO" (PDF). CAAM. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
  20. ↑ "Malaysia Airports: Airports Statistics 2020" (PDF). malaysiaairports. 2 April 2021. Retrieved 5 October 2021.
  • Silver, Lynette Ramsay: Sandakan: A Conspiracy of Silence; Opus Publications, Malaysia. ISBN 978-983-3987-04-7
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sandakan Airport.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.